Most of my life there was not a sugary, fat-filled food that didn't have my name on it. And even though I've had a lot of success on Eat To Live in the last few years, I've also continued to struggle with the emotional urge to keep eating my old favorites. Foods that, intellectually, I know are bad for my health, but that my mind still thinks of as friends.

Sometimes it's been so difficult. I've even felt like giving up on Dr. Fuhrman's plan altogether. So when his new book Eat For Health came out, I felt like his chapters on "Changing How You Think" were written just for me. That's exactly what I needed to do! During the time I spent reading the book and doing the exercises, I realized I could use this kind of daily mental training to work out my mind and reprogram my thinking, just like I use daily exercise to work out my body.

Dr. Fuhrman's book was one form of mental training for me. Other mental work outs include talking openly with my health-conscious friends, working with a wellness coach to set weekly goals, increasing and reinforcing my nutrition knowledge with books and DVDs and visiting inspirational websites.

Speaking of websites, the popular blog This Is Why You’re Fat has been getting a lot of press lately. If you haven't been there yet, people send in their craziest junk-food creations, like bacon-topped doughnuts or deep-fried pepperoni pizza, for us all to groan and laugh over. I think the blog really is funny, but in the past few weeks I’ve noticed that a lot of people talking about the site are saying the same thing:

"It’s so gross, but now I want some."

"Eww! Oh, I bet that tastes good."

"That’s a heart attack waiting to...mmmm, bacon."

Isn’t that interesting? At the same time that we’re appalled, these images are sinking into our little monkey minds and triggering cravings for these kinds of foods. Is this a form of mental training, but in reverse? Are those images, added to all the commercials and advertisements we see every day for unhealthy food, training our minds to keep asking for what we know we shouldn't eat namely salty, fatty, deep-fried, sugary and processed foods?

I started thinking, what if, instead of looking at images of junk food every day. We served ourselves up a daily helping of healthy images instead? Can healthy images inspire us to want what's best for us, make us crave colorful salads instead of fatty burgers or help us get to the gym?

Trackbacks (0)Links to blogs that reference this articleTrackback URLhttp://www.diseaseproof.com/admin/trackback/123010

Comments (3)Read through and enter the discussion with the form at the end

Steve -
April 16, 2009 10:17 AM

Jennifer, looks like a good idea (bearing in mind some of us won't go 100% vegan). The idea that pictures of cheese topped fries will diminish one's taste for them is a bit like a golfer thinking "don't hit it in the water, don't hit it in the water..."

Your post today was eerily prescient - and incredibly encouraging. My E2L experience is almost exactly like yours. Right now, I'm back to a feeling good about it, thanks in large part to just buying Eat for Health on the recommendation of a friend. The emotional eating is definitely a real issue for me.

Simultaneously with the Eat for Health reading, I've just gotten Vegan Lunchbox from the library, and immediately put an order in on Amazon. I have to put the following in all caps: WHAT A FANTASTIC, INSPIRING BOOK! Between lactose and other food intolerance issues and picky eaters of several different stripes, I have struggled with feeding the kids healthily. Your recipes make me want to eat better and feed everyone in our house healthy, delicious, nutricious food. The Calcium Smoothie was unbelievable - I substituted a whole orange for the oj and it was incredible. Can I even say it 'kept' me, full-wise, all morning? Awesome. I'm on to the popcorn balls tomorrow, then the lettuce cups for dinner... wow. Even my 10yo 'picky girl' is asking me when we can make all the recipes...

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

C.

Post A Comment / Question
Use this form to add a comment to this entry.